Now that Jess DeLand has escaped her alcoholic mother’s grip, all she wants is a chance to be normal. But when her past crashes headlong into her present, all hopes of normal go spinning off into the weeds. Jess’s attempts to spare her friends—and herself—from the things she’d rather keep hidden, threaten to destroy the new life she’s built. Maybe normal is too much to ask for.

An indie company is filming Ken Kesey's life story. Oregon location scout Star Stevens stumbles over a dead body and into the embrace of the FBI. She's forced to join their investigation of gangland boss and titty bar owner Oscar Quarry. Narrowly escaping death, she's suddenly living her own movie. Will she be a star? Or the next corpse? And which homicidal Oregonian is racking up the body count?

Eve is a retired baby boomer living in Eugene, Oregon who gets a letter with a skeleton key in it and travels to Catalina Island. She spends the summer in a ocean view bungalow of a former lover and gets to reminisce about the past and the decisions she made decades ago during the tumultuous seventies. Catalina Island, a popular spot for the Hollywood elite, is where Natalie Wood lost her life.

The last thing on 16-year-old Jess DeLand’s wish list is a boyfriend. There are more important things to hope for, like a job fixing cars or an end to her mom’s drinking. But when luck hands her the chance to work on a race car, Jess finds herself rushing full throttle into a world of opportunities—including a boy who doesn’t mind the grease under her fingernails.